(Vienna 1845–1916) “Birches by the Rotunda, Vienna Prater 1914”, signed Tina Blau, oil on canvas, 66.5 x 92 cm, framed, (Rei)

Exhibited: “PleinAir” Die Landschaftsmalerin Tina Blau (1845–1916), Jewish Museum Vienna, 12th July-8th September 1996. Catalogued and illustrated in: Tobias Natter (publisher), exhibition catalogue PleinAir, Die Landschaftsmalerin Tina Blau (1845–1916), Vienna 1996, p.146. Tobias Natter and Claus Jesina, Tina Blau (1845–1916), Salzburg 1999, p.66. Provenance: Galerie Arnot Vienna (fragment of label on the reverse); Private Viennese property. By the late eighteenth century painters such as Johann Christian Brand had already begun to incorporate the Prater in their artistic endeavours. As Vienna grew, what was once an imperial hunting ground became increasingly close to the city’s urban activity and everyday routine. Artists of the Biedermeier period had wandered through the meadows of the Au before Tina Blau, but they had sought out the quiet corners or the groups of trees marked by weather and time, which they mostly exaggerated as allegories of existence and misdeeds. Whereas the open air painters were initially more fascinated by the effect of the huge trees in the natural, largely realistic light, from around 1900 onwards they again became increasingly occupied with the concept of vanitas. Following the advice of her teacher, Tina Blau had been drawing studies of nature in the Prater from an early age. From that time onwards she developed a familiarity with nature which was never to be extinguished in all her following decades. The Prater became Tina Blau‘s domain; functioning as a form of refuge and advancing into the actual Topos of the world she constantly evoked. For Tina Blau the Vienna Prater was never simply a source, rather it was always an actual entirety; it was a realm of images through which the painter wandered with a realistic eye. And yet she explored her beloved Au landscape no less with her soul. However, lyrical exaggeration was never her aim. (Compare G. Tobias Natter, Claus Jesina, Tina Blau, Salzburg 1999, p.10f.,36)